Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1887-03-11
WALKERS VENGEANCE.

1'tN N'I D'Nhhho WIZ
part of our civil war, and minor Incl
dents were speedily absorbed and forgot
ten. | doubt If there are a score of pco-
pie living to-day who can recall the de-
tails of this singular mans adventures,
and | do not remember that anything
save a brief outline of the massacre of
his family has ever appeared in print.
l was a pony express rider on the
Overland route. That meant helping to
to guard stages. carrying a light mail on
my saddle, forwarding dispatches. taking
my turn to act as agent of some stable
and various other things which need not
be explained. There were then several
great trails leading west from the borders
of civilization. and all were more or less
Travelled. but the f~avorite routes were
from st. Joseph and Council Bluffs. the
one being known as the northern and Che
other as tl'M1uthorn route. | Yves en- Il
route alony the Platte river, west of
Fort ~l,clrlcy. which was sometimes
fifty miles long and sometimes -. ac-
cording To the way the Indians were be-
having and the number of mon we had
for service.
Grim Walker was a pioneer named
Charles O. Walker. from near Iowa
City. He was a giant in size. naturally
sour and taciturn of disposition, and his
family consisted of a wife and three
children. While the country was ex-
cited over the civil war. and travel by
the overland had almost come to a stop
except in cases of necessity, Walker and
others formed an immigrant party to
make a push for the golden land. When
fSrp+ ln,,l nf 4l,,, t1,,,- a,,,1,r,1
twenty wagons and sixty or seventy
people. and were on the Platte, east of
Kearnev, which was then dangerous
ground. When the outfit reached Kear-
neg some We're for turning back. others
for electing a new captain, others for set
Ting down near by and establishing
ranches. 1t seemed that there were
three or four different factions in the
party, and several bitter q%uarrcls had
resulted. In the then state of affairs 200
brave and united men could have scarce
ly hoped to reach the Colorado or Wyo-
ming line, for the Indians were up in
arms on every trail and thirsting for
blood and scalps. When it was known.
therefore, that Grim Walker. as he had
come to be known, had been elected
captain of a faction and intended to push
on at the head of only seven families,
which could muster but nine fighting
men, soldiers. hunters. Indian fighters
and overland men argued and scolded
and predicted. Not an argument could
move Grim Walker. Not a prediction
could brighten one of his adherents. 1t
appeared to them to be a case where
manhood and pride were at stake, and
u-ha,1 IL uaS hintaI tl,at t1,a p,i1itnry-
would restrain them they made secret
preparations and departed at night. 1t
was an awful thing for those bigotcd and
determined men to drive their wives and
children. consisting of twenty-five people.
to horrible death, but nothing short of
a battle with the military would have
stopped them.
They left Kearney one night about 10
o'clock, drawing away quietly and
travelling at their best speed. They could
not have gone ten miles before being dis
covered by the Indians. A party of
twenty of us left over the same trail a.
noon next day, and we had gone only
fifteen miles when we found evidences
that the little party, which vas keeping
along the Platte, had been attacked.
This must have been about daylight,
Soon after sunrise they had beer driver
to shelter in a grove of ~cottonwools, bat
before reaching it one of the men hac
been killed and scalped. a wagon hac
broken down and been abandoned. ant
stray bullets had killed a woman and 6
child as they covered down behind the
cargo of the wagons AT 4 O'Clock in the
afternoon We came to the grove. driving
way the last of the savages, but W.
were too late. Such a spectacle as W.
there beheld was enough to sicken tn,
heart of the bravest Indian fighter. Thu
little party had been attacked by abou
300 redskins, and the fight had lasted 70
half a day. As near as we could figur,
from blood spots on the earth fourteen In
dams had been killed, and there wer
bloody trails to show that as many NOR
had been wounded. The foolhardy men ha'
died game as IN offset. We made on
that their camp had been carried by
charge, and that the last of the fightin
was hand to hand. Five of the wome
had been carried off into horrible captiv
itv, while all others had been butchered-
all a Grim Walker. The bodies ha
been cut and hacked and mutilated in
terrible manner but we could hav
identified Walker by his size, ever ha
he been decapitated. The Immigrant
horses had all been killed. the wagon
plundered and burned, and the savage
were bundling up some of the plundt
when we came in sight and drove ther
away. All that was left us was the sa
work of burying the corpses.
A month later we heard that Girl
Walker had escaped from the tigh
breaking out of the grove and riding o
on a horse just as the conflict closed il
Men belonging to the Overland had m
and talked with him east of Kearne,
He had three wounds, but seemed III
conscious of them as he briefly relate
the story of the fight, and vowed that
would have the lives of five Indians fl
every. white person who had perishe
Nothing further was heard of him un
June of the following year. | was the
in government employ as scout and di
patch rider. and was on the Smoky ii
fork of the Kansas river, twenty mil